2012 Skate America Preview

What, if any, effect has the Shpilband - Zoueva break up had on the U.S. top
couples?

Last year’s U.S. Grand Prix saw the debut of
Meryl Davis & Charlie White’s incomparable Die Fledermaus
routine, definitely one of the best competitive creations this
long-time observer has had the pleasure of repeatedly watching live
in her 44-years of world class rink-side observation.

They are the
only U.S. couple ever to win the world ice dance title, which they did
in April 2011, by dethroning their training mates, the Canadian
Olympic champions Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. So why did they lose
that world title in March in Nice? It wasn’t because they skated
badly - quite the contrary. But the judges, noting the Canadians
were back to their full potential, preferred their softer routine,
set to music from the Fred Astaire movie, "Funny Face". It was a controversial decision.

In the 2011
season, Virtue & Moir were plagued with a re-occurrence of Virtue’s
Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome, in which muscle growth
causes pain in her shins and calves, and had to have more
operations. They lost a huge amount of the practice time necessary
to perform at today’s extremely demanding top level. It was an
enormous credit to their abilities, that Virtue & Moir were still
able to claim silver in Moscow.

Both couples
were taught in tandem by Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilband for many
years up until just before the beginning of this season. It came as
a major surprise to the skating world to learn the two extremely
talented coaches had split. “It wasn’t my decision to leave Canton,”
Shpilband told this correspondent. “It was a shock.”

Almost
immediately after he defected from Russia in January 1990, a
stunning move Shpilband later admitted was a spur of the moment
action, he got a job at the Detroit Figure Skating Club. If he had
waited a short time longer, the Soviet Union imploded and he could
have made the move legally.

The radical
action proved a success and it wasn’t that long before he was famous
for putting ice dance, which was earlier regarded as the poor
relative of figure skating, on the U.S. map as a highly competitive
sport instead of a social pastime for adults!! He taught U.S.
champions Liz Punsalen & Jerod Swallow and then matched up and
guided Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto for most of their career.

Zoueva also
moved to the Canton arena when it opened in December 2001. She
attracted Virtue & Moir who moved down from Canada to join them. The
coaches’ partnership was very fruitful with both parties claiming
they spent equal amounts of time with each couple. But, for reasons
which have not yet been made public, Shpilband & Zoueva’s
relationship went belly up and ended with bad feelings on both
sides.

Both Davis &
White and Virtue & Moir plus the Shibutanis remained in in Canton,
with Zoueva. She immediately brought several new coaches into Canton
including 2001 world champion Maurizio Margaglio, a specialist in
the intricacies of the Yankee Polka, which forms two of the five
required elements for this season’s Short Dance section.

Meanwhile,
within days of the catastrophic breakup, Shpilband had established a
rival ice dance center not that far away in Novi. He has attracted a
substantial amount of foreign competitors plus the Americans,
Madison Chock & Evan Bates, who recently won the ice dance event at
the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany.

In this
season’s Skate America, we will see Davis & White’s new Free set to
the dramatic music Notre Dame de Paris.

We will also
see their Short Dance set to music from the Act 1 of the ballet
Giselle. (In this act,
Giselle is a peasant girl and is deceived by the Prince who
disguises his royalty. The villagers amuse themselves dancing and,
White explains, “We use music for a Polka, March and Waltz.”
Giselle, heart broken by the Prince’s betrayal, dies at the end of
this act. (In Act 2 she appears as a spirit but, as Davis explains,
that is not portrayed in their routine.)

The uber-fans
will be analyzing every second of these new routines and will do the
same when Virtue & Moir reveal their new routines next week at the
second Grand Prix of this season, in Windsor, Ontario. The Canadians
had planned to debut their routines in the Finlandia Trophy, two
weeks ago but stayed in Canada, withdrawing at the very last moment
because of Moir’s neck muscle pull.

Virtue
readily admits Carmen is one of the most used pieces of music in
skating but declares, “There’s a reason for that.” In Windsor,
Ontario, Anna Cappellini and Luca LaNotte who placed sixth in the
last world championship and were second in the recent Finlandia
Trophy, will also skate perform to that brilliantly emotional
operatic music, seeking to steal some of the Canadians’ limelight.

Of course, in both cases, there may be even more discussion over the relative
merits of the Davis & White’s and Virtue & Moir’s Short
Dances. White, who is 24, admitted, "It's going to be a good, early
test. [Skate America] is going to be a good way to
show ourselves at the beginning of the year, set the standard for
everyone because it's the first major competition. We are really looking to do that, - to make our mark and
announce to the world that we're ready, regardless of who we are
competing against. That's the most important thing – to go out there
and do our best, no matter who shows up."

ISU Grand Prix Facts

The prize money is awarded to winners and
placed skaters/couples.

1st place U.S. $ 18,000

2nd place U.S. $ 13,000

3rd place U.S. $ 9,000

4th place
U.S. $ 3,000

5th place U.S. $ 2,000

Points to qualify for the final are awarded based on place.

1st place 15 points

2nd place 13
points

3rd place 11 points

4th place 9 points

5th
place 7 points

6th place 5 points

7th place 4 points

8th place 3 points

Pairs and Ice Dancers collect
points up to 6th place.

Total prize money for Skate America is U.S.
$180,000

The global prize money for the Grand
Prix Final is U.S. $272,000.

Skate America, which originated in 1979, is the second oldest competition
in the Grand Prix Series of six events. The oldest is Skate Canada
International.

(18 October 2012) Kent, WA. The ShoWare Arena, a
6,500 seat facility which opened in 2009, is home
to a junior hockey team, and has already won praise from figure
skater Ryan Bradley. The 2011 U.S. champion gave a show performance
here in January of this year and said it was a great location.

At the
beginning of the month, Suzette Cooke, Mayor of the City of Kent,
Wash., proclaimed October 2012 as “Skate America Month,” celebrating
the Hilton HHonors event about to take place in this city not far
from the Seattle Airport.

The northwest
has been particularly kind to figure skating. Washington State and
Oregon have hosted a number of skating events these past few years,
when financial concerns have limited the number of applicants.

Famous
skaters have come from this region, notably 1983 world champion,
Olympic silver medalist and 1982-84 U.S. champion Rosalyn Sumners, who
was from Edmonds, WA; Cynthia & Ron Kauffman, from the SC of
Seattle, the 1966-69 U.S. pair champions and 1966 and 1967 world bronze medalists; and, of course, the sport’s “bad girl” Tonya Harding,
from Portland, Oregon. However, it is still not quite the hotbed of the sport as
is Michigan, Colorado or California.

Perhaps that
interest in skating is encouraged by the fact that the Great
Northwest often has access to CBC, which shows a lot more Canadian
skating that does American television. A good sign that the event
will draw a good crowd this year, was the amount of fans who turned
up to watch Thursday’s practice, around 300 mainly mature, obviously
knowledgeable, supportive adults.

Everett set
the event’s attendance record, welcoming nearly 30,000 fans when it
held the 2008 Skate America, while Spokane had the second highest
attendance, 29,000 in 2002.

The first of
the six Senior Annual Grand Prix events is always full of surprises.
It's early in the season and some entrants are not as trained as they will
be when Worlds in Canada rolls around next March. There is often a
last minute replacement, who turns up and outshines the “star”. Some
soon fade away, others fulfill this early potential. Entries are
strictly governed by the International Skating Union and they have
been cutting down on the numbers. Up until recently there were 12
singles allowed. Now it’s only 10.

Of course,
the early big news was that current Olympic Champion and 2009 World
Champion Evan Lysacek had pulled out, replaced by the fourth ranked
American Armin Mahbanoozadeh. The 21-year-old, whose name is pronounced exactly as it is
spelled, looked good in Thursday’s practice, landing his quad in his
run-through. Also on the U.S. team is Jeremy Abbott, who is the
current U.S. Champion, a title he has won in three of the past four
years, and Doug Razzano from Chandler, AZ.

The favorite
in the men's division has to be Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, at 17, the
youngest competitor, who unexpectedly claimed bronze in his first
entry in the World Championship last March. Hanyu, who is trained in
Canada by Brian Orser, has an extraordinary story. He is from
Sendai, which was the center of the 2011 earthquake. He was on the
ice when it struck and the ice rink began swaying. He ruined his
blades running out of the building but escaped injury.

In the audience this weekend will be Ben Agosto, who now
calls Seattle his home. With Tanith Belbin, he was twice world ice dance runner-up and
Olympic silver medalist. He currently teaches ice skating in this
area and is the
honorary competition chairperson.

LADIES

Although this is U.S. champion Ashley Wagner’s first appearance in
Skate America, she has been a good poster child for this event. In
several publicity appearances she detailed how her grandparents
lived in the northwest and how much she enjoyed summer visits to the
area for several years. Born in Heidelberg, in Germany, the
21-year-old is the daughter of a retired military man, and lived in
seven locations in her early years.

In
only her second appearance at the world championship, Wagner
finished 4th last March, after placing
16th in her previous worlds, in 2008. Her main opposition is expected to
be the two Russians, the world silver medalist, Alena
Leonova, and the “wunderkind” Adelina Sotnikova. This may well
set up a Russian battle for
gold with the young whippersnapper, Adelina Sotnikova, looking
forward to challenging world runner-up Alena Leonova.

However, Leonova was a no-show today. She was flying in from New
Jersey along with coach Nicolai Morozov, but they missed their
flight. She is expected to arrive in time for the competition.

Wagner now lives in California and is trained by the semi-retired
John Nicks. Leonova, who is also 21, and is from Moscow, has
competed in four world championships but has less experience in
Grand Prix events. Wagner explained that although this is her first
Skate America, she has competed in the other five competitions
in this series, which are held in Canada, China, France, Japan and
Russia. Wagner entered her first Grand Prix in 2007, when she competed in both
Canada and France.

Leonova, the 2009 world junior champion, will skate her Short
Program to “You are my Destiny”, last of the ten women from seven
countries. Wagner will perform seventh to
The Red Violin. Sotnikova,
16, was a day too young to compete in the 2012 World Championships but
has been Russian champion three times. Last year, she made a great
Senior Grand Prix debut earning bronze in both her own country’s
Grand Prix and in China.

At
4:30 PM Thursday afternoon, Wagner and one of the other American
entrants, Christine Gao, as well as Sotnikova took the ice along for
the day’s final practice. In addition to Leonova, Rachael Flatt was
also missing from the practice session; however, she lives in Stanford and is thought to have
had academic chores to finish.

Sotnikova was up first. Dressed in practice black, she did only
parts of her routine, set to Rimski-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol
starting impressively with a combination of two triple toe loops. Later there was a high double Axel and energetic steps.
Sotnikova & coach Elena Vodorezova training at Detroit Skating Club for the 10
days prior to Skate America

The
18-year-old Gao, who has taken fifth place in U.S. nationals for the
past three years, and competed in two Grand Prix events last season
(placed 5th in China and 10th in Moscow)
performed her very graceful Short Program to Kostia’s
Close Without Touching.

Then
came Wagner, in a white top with black tights, soaring through a
triple flip to double toe with both hands over her head. Later she
executed a fine double Axel followed by a split jump.

The 5-foot-3,
German-born Wagner trains an average of 20-25 hours a week, just on
ice. She also puts in long hours in the gym, doing cardio, running,
hot yoga and swimming to enhance flexibility, endurance and
strength.

All that preparation enables Wagner to produce a technically sound
four-minute routine on ice. She has emerged over the past few
seasons, adding a triple flip-triple toe in her short program,
something she calls "a necessity."

Wagner
performed well in her short and free skate programs at the
pressure-packed 2012 World Championships, where she finished fourth
overall. She is the current Four Continents champion and was twice
(2008 and 2010) U.S. bronze medalist. She has won five medals in the
Grand Prix Series.

"The public
might not know how just hard of a sport it is," said Wagner. "My job is to make it look perfect and
easy. But at the same time, they don't really know that we're on the
ice four hours, maybe even more, a day. ... So much work goes into
it."

Wagner began
to skate at age 5 in Alaska. She grew up in a military family,
having moved nine times in her younger years.
The frequent
travel and changes matured her beyond her years.
"It has made
me very adaptable," she said.

After Kent,
there is more travel associated with a full schedule in front of
Wagner as she prepares for the 2013 Worlds at London, Ontario,
Canada in March and the chance to qualify for the Olympics.
"I just don't
want to go to the Olympics, I want to go and be competitive," said
Wagner, who is ranked 12th in the world.

After her
skating career, Wagner plans to pursue a career in sports
broadcasting and remain in figure skating as an ambassador. She
supports Classroom Champions, the Wounded Warriors Fund and Skate
for Hope.

Wagner said she enjoys
the opportunity to visit Kent and perform for the audience.
"It's great
to be coming out to the Northwest. The fans are awesome. ... Everyone is going to be able to fill it up pretty easily and
make it nice and noisy. It will make for a wonderful event."

"The audience
can expect great competition. We have some really top-notched
skaters coming in," she said. "It's going to be an awesome event."

PAIRS

This is a particularly competitive
field, with the Russian team of Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov, who left
previous partners to team together and have been second in the last
two World Championships behind the Germans Aliona Savchenko & Robin
Szolkowy, facing the Chinese team of Qing Pang & Jian Tong.

Volosozhar & Trankov recently won the gold in
the Nebelhorn Trophy with U.S. champions, Caydee Denney & John
Coughlin, second. Both Denney & Coughlin, and their teammates,
Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff, who had a not-so-good Short
Program in
Germany, but nearly earned bronze, say they learned a lot in Oberstdorf and are looking forward to
this event.

The Canadians, Jessica Dubé & Sébastien Wolfe, withdrew, enabling the
Israeli pair to be entered on October 20. The many-time British pair
skaters, Stacey Kemp & David King, whose names were called in the first practice on Thursday
morning, did not pull out in time to be replaced. She has been
troubled with an injury caused when an off-ice lift went wrong. They
are still hoping she will be recovered to compete in next week’s
Skate Canada.

The event opened late Thursday morning, with the top pairs taking the ice for
the first practice. It didn’t go completely smoothly. Qing Pang &
Jian Tong were first up but it took a while to get their
music, Elgar’s Enigma, to start correctly. The sound was somewhat muted.

The couple,
who had flown in from Beijing, later explained how his knees are
pretty shattered and he must ice both of them immediately after each
practice. She also had trouble with her shoulder. They laughed at
their statement that they were so old. (She is 32 and he 33.) “We
first skated in the World Championship in 1999,” he said. “That was
a lo-oong time ago. It is very hard to continue on. We can not do
every event we want to.”

Later in that
practice session Tatiana Volosozhar
& Maxim Trankov went through their Free routine set to Ikuko Kawai’s Violin Muse.
They certainly are the clear favorites and have definitely benefited
from their win in Oberstdorf at the Nebelhorn Trophy three weeks
ago. He said, “We had some problems in Germany but the routine is
much better now, more polished.”

Trankov wore
a baseball hat off the ice covering the growing out of his extreme
hair do, which he showed off proudly in Germany. The lower half of
his skull was practically shaved hairless while the top half stuck
up in the air. There were great arguments about it from his fans,
and he is obviously trying now to reverse its extreme properties.

Skating-wise,
their practice in Kent showed a distinct improvement from their
performance in the very south of Germany. He explained, “We like to
do new programs every year, but it takes time to get them smooth.
People ask why don’t we stay with one routine for two years, but we
like to come up with new ideas, each one better than the one
before.”

The U.S. is
represented in this event by the National Champions, Caydee Denney
& John Coughlin, from Colorado Springs, and Boston trained pairs,
Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff, and Marissa Castelli & Simon
Shnapir.

ICE DANCE

There may be no one to challenge the U.S. champions, Meryl Davis &
Charlie White, but Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje, Canadians who were
fourth in the 2012 World Championships will be doing their best.
They showed off their charming Short Dance to
The Sound of Music. Also
trying to claim some of the limelight are the Russian couple,
Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev, who won the Finlandia Trophy
with a somewhat puzzling “modern dance” filled with drug-inspired
angst.

ALso in the mix are Nelli Zhiganshina &
Alexander Gazsi, who represent Germany and Lorenza Alessandrini &
Simone Vaturi, from Italy. Isabella Tobias & Deividas Stagniunas,
who train in the U.S. but represent Lithuania, withdrew on Monday too
late to be replaced.

Davis & White, whose event does not
start until Saturday, did not appear in the arena on Thursday. Their
teammates are Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt who
have competed in the national senior championships five times,
advancing each year. They were fourth last January. Also
representing the U.S. are the sixth ranked Americans, Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus, who train in Newark, Delaware.

Davis said
earlier, "Skate America is special to us because we are skating on
American soil. Competition definitely varies from one venue to the
next. The audience is extremely important. When you have a great
audience, one that's supportive and excited, it can make a huge
difference. That's what we are hoping for when we come to Kent. It's
nerve racking to finally show the world what we have been working on
the past couple of months."

White said,
“We've had some really great experiences in the Pacific Northwest. I
don't know what it is exactly attributable to, but we're expecting
the same thing. It is going to be a great event.”